


Soulbound

by Dis_connect



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-08 08:13:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12860457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dis_connect/pseuds/Dis_connect
Summary: It's her first summoning in ages and Carmilla can hear the laughter all the way from the mortal plane.  She intends to move on to bigger things but she makes one tiny promise to little Laura Hollis and demons do not break contracts.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Lord help me, I've consumed the kool-aid again so here, have a rough fic. No beta, no research, no planned-out plot. I have a vague idea and a short paragraph so please, enjoy! I think it will be short, though it really could turn into a mega-epic fic if you bust too deep into your preferred lore, so maybe three to five chapters? Tags will be updated as needed.

 

 

 

A pull drew her to the mortal realm.

 

Newly freed from her torment, Carmilla was all too eager to follow the lead.  Anything to get away.  If she had bothered to pay closer attention, she would have realized there was something...wrong with this summons.

 

She crossed the bridge into the mortal plane in a flourish of flame and smoke, midnight skin glittering with hints of gems and metals precious to greedy humans.  The demon tongue rolled from her throat in a growl of thunder -

 

\- and fell silent and still as she made eye contact with a tiny human staring agog at her.  Wearing giraffe pajamas.

 

The...girl?  Human aging and gendering was so very strange.  The girl clutched a stuffed animal toy and continued to openly stare - perhaps paralyzed with fear - while tears ran freely from her eyes...and mucus from her nose.  Mildly disgusted, the demon scowled and skimmed the girl’s mind as deep as the contracts of the Ether allowed; just enough to garner her language.  Carmilla leaned down, spindly claws pressing into the plush white carpeting to either side of the child.   _Where is the Summoner?_

 

“Wh-who?” she squeaked.

 

Black eyes narrowed, non-plussed.   "The **Summoner** , idiot child.  The one who called me here."

 

“I’m n-not an id-id-idiot!”

 

A growl snaked from her chest but softened to a hard sigh.  She needed a sliver of patience.  Her appearance had surely stunned the brat to stupor.  It wouldn’t be the first time.  Grown humans of immeasurable power had all but wet themselves at her appearance in the past.   "Go fetch the one who called me, child.  My temper is short."

 

The girl wiped her face against the clutched toy.  Fresh tears spilled forth and her breath hitched.  “I w-want my mom back!”

 

She jerked back in offense.  The child wasn’t afraid of her at all!  The tears, the stammered words - it was grief, not fear, that rolled off her tiny form in waves.  Carmilla leaned back until she was upright once more and able to look around.  They were clearly in a child’s room, the ages couldn’t hide the signs of childhood, and the moon shone through the window, tempting Carmilla to distraction.  Scattered around the carpet were toys but as she peered more intently dismay, embarrassment, and anger filled her in that precise order.  Whether or not conscious thought had gone into the arrangement of toys scattered in a ring around the summoner, they were assembled in just enough of a fashion, complete with the broken heart in the midst, to gain the attention of a High Demon that was truly bored...or seriously pissed.

 

Clearly Maman was not as forgiving as she had hoped.  

 

Carmilla glared at the assembly of toys as though she could set them alight without the express permission of the summoner.  The child summoner.  The child _accidental_ summoner.  Surely Mattie and Will were laughing their fool heads off at her!  She hissed in annoyance, long arms folding before her body.   "I do not know your m-om," she stumbled over the more modern wording.

 

“Bring her back!” she demanded.

 

Could she bring the girl’s soul back and earn some forgiveness?  She clearly had zero self-preservation instincts and would likely give up her name and a slipped promise without thought or suspicion.  Carmilla growled.   "If your mother has died, child, I cannot bring her back.  She is beyond the veil."

 

A smooth brow furrowed in furious thought over the wording.  “But...but I prayed!  I prayed and an angel came and you have to bring her back!”

 

Disturbed, Carmilla wondered at the girl’s sanity.  An angel!  What were they teaching children these days?!  A grumble thrummed through her chest and she very gently expanded her senses.  Another human was in the home: adult male, passed out drunk and wading deep in nightmares.  Heavy, recent grief hung about like a pall, choking the house now that she cared enough to look for it.  She narrowed her eyes.   "Crossing the veil requires a soul.  Who will you sacrifice?"

 

“Sacrifice?  Um...I...I guess you can use mine?  I really, really want my mom back!”  A fresh tears welled.

 

Oh.  Right there.  No name or promise required, it had been offered freely.  Carmilla could save some shred of her dignity and return with a soul to convert to another member of Maman’s army.  And such a soul!  Young, soft, sweet, all too much to Maman’s taste.  She just had to reach out and grab and this nightmare of eternal embarrassment would be over.

 

Carmilla utterly loathed herself.

 

Her form shrank from its imposing, room-filling shadow to something slightly larger than the girl.  Carmilla did her best to match human proportions but animals were more her strength.  She sighed.   "What is your name, Summoner?"

 

“L-Laura.”  Brown eyes had widened in amazement, tears drying up.

 

"Laura.  I cannot bring your mother back."

 

“Buh....But my story…”  Her voice cracked.  “I have to read her my story.  I promised!”

 

"Story?"   Carmilla could afford the entertainment of a tale if she was going to return in disgrace.

 

Laura hurried off and returned with a hand-bound book, very much the work of an industrious child.  It was thrust into the demon’s face.  “See?  I was supposed to read it to her when she got better!”

 

She used a wicked claw to press the book away into Laura’s lap and gave it some thought.  This was clearly a mockery of an assignment.  Carmilla could afford to fluff and half-truth her way through it.  Surely Maman didn’t expect her to take this seriously!   "Read it to me.  I will see if I can pass it on to her."

 

“Really?!”

 

"I am a demon of my word.  I have never failed a contract.  Read it to me. _"_

 

“You have to tell me what you think!  Mom says other opinions are important to writers.”

 

She snorted.   "Demons are nothing but honest.  The truth is a brutal weapon."

 

Laura read.  Carmilla listened.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A tiny bible zing that I'm not sorry for and I'm a little concerned this is going to be bigger than I thought. We'll see. Still fast and loose writing. Minimal scene-work so this is dialog-heavy. Made some very minor changes to the first chapter.

 

 

 

 

Carmilla had lingered as long as possible.  The realm of mortals had so many intriguing pleasures, humans least among them, and she found herself staring out the window at the moon.  It hung as a crescent, sharp as her claws, and all around it were the pinpricks of stars; a glorious wreath boasting reminders of mankind’s insignificance.  There were no stars in Carmilla’s realm.  When she had asked, Maman had scoffed and explained that demons were above all - not even stars were loftier.

 

To the day some shred of doubt still sat uneasy in Carmilla’s chest.

 

The moon and stars moved and Laura’s energy waned.  She pulled herself into bed and stared unwavering at Carmilla until sleep dragged her eyes shut.  Given no task to keep her there, the demon was drawn back to her realm where Will’s terrifying grin greeted her.

 

Carmilla raked her claws through his face before he had a chance to speak.

 

She bore the trial of reporting on her summons by thinking about the stars and the young human’s intent stare.  Mattie was, as ever, too full of poise to laugh but her smile said volumes.  William had no such restraint and howled with glee until Maman dismissed him, annoyed more by the volume of his mirth than its presence.  

 

“And did you complete the contract?”

 

Carmilla cocked her head.  Maman was so difficult to judge.  “Contract?”

 

She snorted.  “You were not in torment _that_ long, dear.  Humans do not call on us for nothing.  Surely the...summoner,” the mocking pause made Carmilla twitch, “needed something?  Had a duty for you to fulfill?  An exchange to be made?”

 

“Surely you don’t mean…!”  Carmilla choked.  “Maman, the...the summoner is a grieving human that wants its dead mother back.”  Words echoed through her head, the tale of a child with an alarmingly solid grasp of storytelling, simple as the story was.  “I...no demon has crossed the veil and returned!”

 

Maman’s head swung down, her smiling visage tripping every fear response in Carmilla’s body.  “Couldn’t trick a simple human child out of her soul?  Such a basic game, Carmilla.  You’re not still holding on to those silly notions that landed you into so much trouble, are you my darling?”

 

She was standing only because her body was locked between predator and prey responses.  There was a flash of the girl freely offering her soul and a voice screaming that this time, this time she was absolutely going to die a true, eternal death.  “I...n-no, Maman.”

 

“And demons complete their contracts.  We do not fail.”

 

“Yes, Maman.  I will see it done.”

 

Maman eased back, her smile pulling a little wider, eyes a little more narrow.  “Good.  You’ll receive nothing else until this is done.”

  
  
  
  
  


The second she could, Carmilla fled to the fringes of demon land - a dead zone between planes where reality and time were broken beyond repair from the endless conflicts of gods.  It was abandoned, quiet, forgotten by those that had scarred it.

 

“We have to stop meeting this way.  People will talk!”

 

Carmilla startled but her body sagged quickly.  She grunted.  “Go away, firefly.”

 

Resting upon the charred remnants of a tree, a cherub hopped down into the ashes and padded over, plopping into the dust beside Carmilla and beaming up at her.  They made quite the odd pair - a large, hunched over demon and a cherub.  

 

After a few minutes of silence and that obnoxious grin, Carmilla scoffed.  “Why do you choose that form, anyway?  To imitate the human body when your true being is so much greater?”

 

They smiled and shrugged.  “It’s kinda fun.  And appearing to humans in the forms of fire and light tends to cause all kinds of bad reactions and misunderstandings.  I mean, they wrote and re-wrote a whole set of books based on it.”

 

“But this is so…”  She made a face and pulled at one fluffy white wing.  “...cute.”

 

“It serves its purpose.  And hello!” They lunged up and wrapped their arms around Carmilla’s neck.  “Did you know it’s been two-hundred human years since I’ve seen you?”

 

“You mean since you got me in trouble.” she growled, shaking free.

 

They gently floated to the ground.  “Was it bad?”

 

Carmilla mulled on it.  “A demon assisting some nosey little cherubim that wandered away from its keeper instead of pulling it apart by its divine components?  What do you think?”

 

“Danny was _super_ pissed too.  For ages it was always _LaFontaine put that down_ .   _LaFontaine you’re not listening to me_ .   _LaFontaine you’d better not leave my sight - better yet let’s just tie you to me_.”

 

Rather than compare torments further, Carmilla glanced about.  “Where is big, red, and holier-than-thou anyway?”

 

LaF practically bounced.  “She pulled Guardian duty!  It’s great!  I guess some human kid did something alarming so they assigned her to keep an eye out but it means she’s not hovering over my every move!”

 

Carmilla huffed.  “Why haven’t you advanced in rank yet?  Shouldn’t you be a full-on angel after two hundred years?”  Not that time meant much to eternals but...

 

Their wings drooped just a bit and they glanced about.  “Ahum...well...I may ask too many questions?  I, uh, also might have broken a few rules about interacting with humans...maybe.  They still haven’t proven it.”

 

“Speaking of humans…” She sighed and fidgeted.  “What do you know about breaching the veil?”

 

“The veil?” LaF cocked their head curiously.

 

“You…” she waved her hand dismissively,  “...heavenly types seem to find it easier to cross.”

 

“Uh, not sure where you got that intelligence from but no.  Those rules run the same for you as for us.  I cross there-”  They whistled and gestured.  “-that’s it.  Back on the ride around for another bout of brain-wiped mortality.  Who knows when I’d get another shot at divinity again!”

 

“What if you could pay passage with another soul?”

 

LaF’s brow crinkled thoughtfully.  “I don’t think the veil is necessarily alive enough to make that deal but what is this about?  You that desperate to get another trip round?”

 

Carmilla sighed a growl of frustration.  “No!  I...you are the worst, weirdest creature ever!”

 

They just stood there, waiting.

 

“Fine!  I...I made a promise.  And demons do not break contracts.  Can you just...look into it for me?  On your side?  Maybe you have something I don’t.  All I need to do is get a message across.”

 

“You’re asking me to risk getting thrown into the very thing you want researched?”

 

Carmilla stood and loomed over the cherub, growling in a voice old as the Earth.  “You.  Owe.  Me.”

 

Unimpressed, LaF’s eyes rolled up to Carmilla’s full height.  “Really?”

 

“Would you care for me to show you exactly how I’ve spent my last two-hundred years?  Being flayed one strip at a time comes immediately to mind.”

 

They disappeared in a flash of light only to reappear back at their prior charred-tree roost, scowling.  “Okay, okay!  I guess I do love a good bit of research and Danny can’t ask me what I’m doing.”

 

Carmilla shuddered, feeling a familiar pull.  “I have to go.  Keep me informed.”

 

This time she was almost dragged across the threshold and despite always hearing her mother in the back of her mind, Carmilla didn’t bother with the flash and the glamour.  She simply appeared in a breath of smoke and looked around in some confusion.  

 

"Oh, see!" Laura gestured at Carmilla with excitement.  "See, I told you!"

 

"Oh you have  _got_ to be kidding me!"

 

Carmilla locked eyes with the armored, armed, and full-winged Guardian Angel before her and _growled_.  "Danny."


End file.
